Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has partnered with colleges across the country to launch a new initiative designed to help make Scotland one of the most cyber resilient nations in the world.

A cybersecurity module, developed in partnership with Dundee and Angus College, will be incorporated into a range of non-technology courses and rolled out to another nine colleges in the first year, leading to more than 500 students a year leaving further education with a recognised cybersecurity qualification.

The new course was launched to coincide with CyberScotland Week and will see the likes of trainee beauty therapists, farmers, joiners, hairdressers, nursery staff, sports professionals, teachers and language learners study cybersecurity as part of their wider course.

By targeting students that study non-tech subjects, SDS and the Scottish Government hope to equip people with the cyber skills necessary to better protect themselves and their employers or businesses online.

“The pilot was delivered as part of the implementation of our Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland,” said Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy for the Scottish Government.

She added: “The fast-paced digital transformation of the world we live in means that cyber resilience is no longer just the responsibility of technology specialists or IT departments. And it’s not just big companies that get hacked. Any organisation that uses online digital technology can be at risk.

“We can never guarantee protection from all types of cyberattack, but this project will help to increase future workers’ knowledge and skills to withstand and reduce the risk and impact of security breaches.”

Dundee and Angus College took particular interest in the pilot because they suffered a hack back in 2020, and immediately saw the benefit of teaching non-tech students about this growing tech-driven threat.

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James Oliver, Head of Computing at Dundee & Angus College of the College, said: “The attack we suffered was devastating. Hackers demanded the entire contents of our bank account to release student work and teaching plans. We effectively had to rebuild our IT systems from scratch.

“By making sure as many people as possible are aware of cybersecurity basics, we hope to stop others from experiencing what is a distressing and expensive risk to any organisation whether large or large or small, commercial or charity!”

Nearly 90 social science students completed the cyber skills unit, which lead to an SCQF Level 4 qualification.

Oliver concluded: “The student feedback on the pilot showed they had a positive and enjoyable experience, and perception of cybersecurity had changed. Students really valued the new subject, and could understand the application to their own circumstances. We look forward to working with our counterparts at these other colleges to replicate this success.”

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